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Description
We don't know much about the centurion from Mark 15:39. According to the uninspired, non-Biblical book "The Gospel of Nicodemus", the name given to him is Longinus. In the Roman Catholic tradition this centurion is the same one who pierced Jesus in the side.

What we do know about him is the kind of man he was and the kind of culture he lived in. A pagan soldier living in a time when Romans were completely inundated in the worship of false gods and the deification of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus, the Caesar at the time of Jesus's crucifixion.

While the rest of the soldiers were mocking Jesus crying out to His Father (Mark 15:35-36), this centurion was different. The Spirit of God moved through him at that exact moment, and made him openly proclaim Christ truly was the Son of God. The kind of language he used ("truly" in this case is the translation of the Greek "alethos", meaning "certainly, indeed , really, sure, surely, truly, truthfully) indicates that he wasn't making a sarcastic remark. He wasn't joining in with the other pagan unbelievers in laughing and joking about Christ on the cross. This centurion's eyes were opened, and at that moment, he saw the truth. By proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God, the centurion found salvation. All the years he spent in this pagan Roman culture were put behind him, all his belief in the false gods of his time was shattered, and at that very moment, the centurion knew: Jesus was the Son of God, He was the Messiah, He was God in the flesh.

At that very moment, he knew that they had just murdered God.

This particular moment is one of my favorite moments in the Bible. An unbeliever, not even having seen the miracles of Jesus, not even having heard the full gospel, being so indoctrinated in Roman culture and religion, becomes a believer of Christ. There are a lot of unbelievers in the world, mocking and accusing Christianity of so many things. We as Christians defend the truth of the Bible and the reality of God having sent His Son to die for our sins, yet we tend to forget one important thing: No amount of arguing or debate will move an unbeliever to repentance and redemption. Only the Spirit of God can do that. Let us defend our faith (1 Peter 3:15) but always remember that only God can make a person a believer. John 3:16-21 tells us that the reason unbelievers reject Christ and hate the truth is because they "loved the darkness rather than light." Only a purely supernatural act of love and mercy from God can change a person's heart and open their eyes, just as it happened with the centurion.

Description
We don't know much about the centurion from Mark 15:39. According to the uninspired, non-Biblical book "The Gospel of Nicodemus", the name given to him is Longinus. In the Roman Catholic tradition this centurion is the same one who pierced Jesus in the side.

What we do know about him is the kind of man he was and the kind of culture he lived in. A pagan soldier living in a time when Romans were completely inundated in the worship of false gods and the deification of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus, the Caesar at the time of Jesus's crucifixion.

While the rest of the soldiers were mocking Jesus crying out to His Father (Mark 15:35-36), this centurion was different. The Spirit of God moved through him at that exact moment, and made him openly proclaim Christ truly was the Son of God. The kind of language he used ("truly" in this case is the translation of the Greek "alethos", meaning "certainly, indeed , really, sure, surely, truly, truthfully) indicates that he wasn't making a sarcastic remark. He wasn't joining in with the other pagan unbelievers in laughing and joking about Christ on the cross. This centurion's eyes were opened, and at that moment, he saw the truth. By proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God, the centurion found salvation. All the years he spent in this pagan Roman culture were put behind him, all his belief in the false gods of his time was shattered, and at that very moment, the centurion knew: Jesus was the Son of God, He was the Messiah, He was God in the flesh.

At that very moment, he knew that they had just murdered God.

This particular moment is one of my favorite moments in the Bible. An unbeliever, not even having seen the miracles of Jesus, not even having heard the full gospel, being so indoctrinated in Roman culture and religion, becomes a believer of Christ. There are a lot of unbelievers in the world, mocking and accusing Christianity of so many things. We as Christians defend the truth of the Bible and the reality of God having sent His Son to die for our sins, yet we tend to forget one important thing: No amount of arguing or debate will move an unbeliever to repentance and redemption. Only the Spirit of God can do that. Let us defend our faith (1 Peter 3:15) but always remember that only God can make a person a believer. John 3:16-21 tells us that the reason unbelievers reject Christ and hate the truth is because they "loved the darkness rather than light." Only a purely supernatural act of love and mercy from God can change a person's heart and open their eyes, just as it happened with the centurion.